


Wedding Bells

by Akiko_Natsuko



Series: Fraxus [29]
Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Fluff, Love, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Nervousness, Wedding Fluff, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-19
Updated: 2019-01-19
Packaged: 2019-10-12 10:09:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17465522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akiko_Natsuko/pseuds/Akiko_Natsuko
Summary: It's the day of their wedding, and Freed is more nervous than he expected, but with Laxus at his side there is nothing stopping him.





	Wedding Bells

 

   Freed had always known that he was going to be nervous on the morning of his wedding, even though he had no doubts about what he was doing, but the way he currently felt went way beyond mere nervousness. He had long since taken to pacing backwards and forwards across the room they had been told to wait in, fiddling nervously with the ends of his hair no matter how many times Evergreen had slapped his hands away, utterly deaf to her attempts to get him to calm down or sit down. _Why am I so nervous?_ It was Laxus. His Laxus, the same grumpy Dragon-slayer he had known and loved for years who was going to be waiting for him at the altar in the Cathedral. It would be their friends and family who were there to watch them finally tying the knot, which meant that there was absolutely nothing to fear and yet…

“I can’t do this,” he whispered as he glanced down at his hand, swallowing hard as he gazed at his engagement ring. It was just a simple silver band with an emerald in the middle, and his finger trembled as he ran it over the stone, remembering how Laxus had explained that it had reminded him of Freed when he first saw it. _He chose this ring just for me._ A soft smile crept across his face as he recalled the day he had received it, doubting that he would ever be able to forget it, as it had been the happiest day of his life up until today, even though it was right in the middle of their recovery after Tartaros.

    _It had just been the two of the infirmary, Laxus still bed bound while the cure finished driving the magic barrier particles out. The air between them had been a little awkward, and Bickslow and Evergreen had fled a short while before with strict orders for the two of them to actually talk and sort out ‘whatever the hell was bothering them’. That had been nearly an hour ago, and so far neither of them had dared to break the silence, and Freed had even gone so far as to avoid looking at the blond, and Laxus had to fight back a sigh. He had heard the guilt in Freed’s voice and how far he had been willing to go to make amends when he was waking up, and he hadn’t known how to address it to start with, settling on hugging them all and promising to protect them all, but now it was time to fix this._

_“Freed…” He began softly, sighing when Freed hummed to show that he was listening but still refused to look at him, and ignoring the fact that he wasn’t supposed to be moving too much he sat up, reaching out to grab the Rune mage’s hand and dragging him down onto the bed beside him. “Look at me please…”_

_“I…” Freed had never been able to deny the Dragon-slayer anything, and that hadn’t changed even with the guilt weighing down on his shoulders, and he slowly raised his eyes to meet Laxus’s gaze although his words caught in his throat. That had been enough for Laxus though, and he had smiled slightly. The small, soft half-smile that was reserved solely for the Rune mage, before reaching up to cup one of Freed’s cheeks, eyebrows rising for a moment at the dampness that met his searching fingers and he brushed the tears away with a sigh. Freed…_

_“Freed…”_

_“I’m sorry,” Freed had whispered, cutting him off, guilt evident in his voice as he once again tried to look everywhere but Laxus, although he made no move to pull away from the warm hand still resting against his cheek. He didn’t feel like he deserved that gentle touch, or the soft look in the blue eyes watching his every move, but he couldn’t pull away. “I…”_

_“Did nothing wrong,” Laxus finished for him, knowing full well those weren’t the words he had been planning to say. “I asked you to get us all home, and you did,” the Dragon-slayer pointed out firmly, although he knew those words alone wouldn’t really help. Some of his memories from the fight were slightly hazy, but he could clearly recall the terror and desperation in the turquoise eyes as Freed had realised what he was going to do, and he knew that the Rune mage was blaming himself for not helping with that, even though there had been nothing that he could have done. “I did what I had to do. I had to protect the town, and I had to protect you, even though it appears as though I didn’t do a good job at either of those.”_

_“You did. I wouldn’t have been able to get everyone home if it wasn’t for you,” Freed protested at once, meeting his gaze for a moment before lowering his eyes once more, and his voice was barely above a whisper as he added. “Laxus, I don’t want you to protect me again, at least not like that.” His hand crept into the material of Laxus’s shirt, fingers curling into the material as he added with quiet desperation. “If I had lost you…”_

_“Believe me I know.” Laxus murmured, he knew that fear…that pain all too well. He had come close to losing the Rune mage in the battle against the Dragons, and it had been the thought of losing him to the black smoke that had pushed him to go so far. He trembled slightly as he pulled his hand away from Freed’s face so that he could pull him into a tight hug, pressing a soft kiss into green hair. “I know.”_

_“Laxus?”_

_“One moment,” Laxus mumbled, holding Freed tighter with one hand as he fumbled for his coat which had been folded neatly and left on top of the bedside table ready for when he was well enough to leave. It took him several attempts to find the pocket that he was looking for, but he was not about to let go of Freed. Not now, and not ever…and the four simple words that he had been waiting to say for far too long were bubbling just below the surface now. “Got it!” He declared triumphantly after another minute, pulling out the small green box he had been carrying around for the past month as he waited for the perfect moment to say those words, drawing it closer even as he felt Freed stiffening in his arms as he spotted what Laxus was holding._

_“Laxus…”_

_“Consider it a promise, that we won’t lose each other no matter what,” Laxus was trembling with nerves now, his voice barely audible as Freed slowly raised his head to meet his gaze once more, a look of wonder and hope in his eyes as he glanced between the box and the Dragon-slayer. It was that expression that gave him the courage to ask the question he had wanted to ask for far too long. “Will you marry me?” For a moment there was no response, Freed gazing at him with a stunned expression for a minute before abruptly tackling him and pushing them both down against the bed as he buried his face against Laxus’s chest, and it had taken the Dragon-slayer a moment to realise that Freed was quietly chanting his response against his skin._

_“Yes, yes, yes.…”_

      Freed sniffled at the memory, reaching up to swipe at his eyes before glancing around in surprise when there was no sharp order to pull himself together, blinking when he realised that Evergreen had slipped out at some point while he was distracted. _No._ As much as he didn’t want her to nag at him, he needed the distraction because now the memory had faded, the nerves were seeping back in, and he began to pace once more. _I can’t do this, but I want to do this._ He vacillated between the two, hating himself for even thinking about not being able to do this. They had waited long enough for their big day. At first, they had wanted to do it as quickly as possible, but neither of them had been willing to tie the knot while Fairy Tail was disbanded even though they’d had the rest of the Raijinshuu with them.

    Then the guild had got back together, but there had been no time to think about weddings before they had found themselves neck deep in the war against Zeref. They had come so close to losing each other during that conflict though that they had resolved not to wait any longer, and so as soon as it was over and the worst of everyone’s injuries had healed Laxus had spoken to Makarov, and here they were. Magnolia and the guild was still in the process of picking up the pieces, even Kardia Cathedral was still covered in scaffolding. But when Freed had hesitantly pointed out that maybe they should wait, it had been Makarov who had pointed out that they needed something truly joyous after the war and that no one would want them to wait.

_I thought I was ready._

   He had privately been relieved at Makarov’s words, and he had been counting down the days, and now it felt like he was falling apart at the seams. _I can’t do this. I can’t do this…_ His panicked thoughts came to an abrupt halt as the door to the room burst open, and he whirled around, instinctively reaching for his sword only to freeze as he realised two things. One, he wasn’t carrying his sword and two that it was his husband to be who had just charged into the room.

“Laxus?” Even just the sight of the Dragon-slayer helped to ease the ball of nerves in his chest, right until he glanced anxiously at the door and then down at himself before whispering. “But you’re not…”

“I don’t care,” Laxus muttered. Cutting across the weak protest as he closed the distance between, sighing with relief as he wrapped his arms around Freed, and the Rune mage found his protests dying away as he buried his face against the taller man. Blinking back unexpected tears of relief as he felt Laxus’s hand coming up to play with his hair. A small part of him knew that he should stop the Lightning mage, Evergreen would kill both of them if she returned to find that he was a mess, but he couldn’t get the words to come out. _Laxus is here…_

    They remained like that for a few minutes, and Freed could feel himself calming completely. It was the same feeling he had in battles when the tides were against them, and Laxus suddenly appeared, and he let out a contented sigh as he nuzzled against his partner.

“Evergreen said you were nervous,” Laxus said softly, not needing to ask as he had been able to smell it the moment he had stepped into the room. Plus it had been written clearly across his partner’s face, and it was reinforced by the way Freed had tensed at his words. “Are you really that worried about today?” He asked anxiously, gently stroking Freed’s hair in the way that always relaxed his partner, smiling when he caught the almost purr that slipped out before Freed sighed and rested against him once more.

“I don’t know what it is,” Freed admitted, giving up on trying to put the nervousness he had been feeling into words, pulling back so that he could peer up at Laxus.  “I feel better now though…” _Now that you’re here,_ he left unspoken, feeling himself turning pink just at the thought of it. Laxus chuckled at the sight of the blush, easily guessing at the thought that had accompanied it and he pressed a gentle kiss to Freed’s forehead before adding softly.

“Then I’m not going anywhere.”

“But…”

“I don’t care about traditions or rules,” Laxus pointed out bluntly, having been less than pleased when Bickslow and Evergreen had stolen Freed away the night before in the name of tradition, and guessing that was the reason behind the protests when he had first arrived. “I want this day to be perfect for both of us, and if having me here makes you less nervous then I will walk you down that aisle myself!” Freed could feel his blush darkening at Laxus’ words, but he couldn’t keep the warm smile of his face as he reached up and pressed a kiss to the underside of Laxus’ chin.

“Thank you…” He trailed off as they heard the organ starting up from deeper in the cathedral, and he sucked in a startled breath, feeling his nerves seeping in again as Laxus pulled away, and he was stunned when Laxus turned and offered him his arm, with a small grin.

“Freed Justine, will you marry me?”

    For a moment all Freed could do was stare at the Dragon-slayer, laughter bubbling up through the nervousness, and he let out a watery chuckle as he took the proffered arm and allowed the blond to tug him gently towards the door.

“Yes.”

_The answer will always be yes…_


End file.
